


Peanuts Gakuen

by cest_what



Category: Peanuts, Tennis no Oujisama | Prince of Tennis
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fusion, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-04-09
Updated: 2010-04-09
Packaged: 2017-10-08 19:35:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cest_what/pseuds/cest_what
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peppermint Patty's having trouble perfecting her Boomerang Snake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Peanuts Gakuen

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted to [LJ](http://cest-what.livejournal.com/10163.html) April 2008.

"I think the problem, sir, is that you're not twisting your upper body enough."

Peppermint Patty gave her a narrow-eyed look, and hissed a breath through her teeth. Marcie blinked calmly behind her glasses.

"I _am_ twisting my upper body." Patty transferred her glare to the pair of knotted towels in her hand. "This is a stupid exercise, Marcie-san."

"There's an 84% chance that you'll never perfect your Boomerang Snake if you can't give the curve more twist," Marcie said. She sounded faintly hurt.

"Fine! All right!"

Patty bent her knees, imagining that she was holding a racket instead of two sodden towels. The bandana over her forehead slipped down an inch, and she pushed it up again, frowning. She concentrated, angling her shoulders. Then she swung her arm, hissing through her teeth. The wet, heavy towels whipped through the air with a sound like tearing cloth.

Marcie took a step back to avoid them, and stumbled. She fell backwards into the river with a complicated, flailing splash.

Patty stared at her for a moment, wide-eyed. Then she ploughed through the water for the few steps needed to reach her senpai, and tugged her up by the elbow.

Marcie's clothes were bedraggled and clinging to her legs, and her glasses were splashed with water. Her notebook was still dry, though; she'd held it above her when she stumbled. She stood there blinking through dazzled glasses, her mouth slightly open, water streaming down her legs. She looked, Peppermint Patty thought, sort of adorable.

Patty rolled her eyes, folding the wet towels over her arm. "I can't take you anywhere, Marcie-san."

"Sorry, sir."

Patty scowled. "Don't call me that! You're my senpai: it sounds stupid when you call me that."

Marcie just looked at her. Patty kept glaring for a few moments, but Marcie could just _look_, and you never had any idea what she was thinking, but in the end she got her own way. After a minute Patty rolled her eyes again and started wading for the shore. "We're going to be late for practice," she said over her shoulder.

Marcie followed her. Patty could hear her clomping uncoordinatedly through the shallows. When Patty glanced around, Marcie had her head bent and her hand curled around a pen, carefully jotting down data in her notebook. She wasn't watching where she was going at all. She'd probably fall over again in a second.

Patty slowed so she could keep a hand near Marcie's elbow. Marcie gave her a sideways look, her glasses flashing. She smiled slightly as she looked down again.

Patty grinned.

"Hey," she said, as they were rolling their trousers back down on the shore. "Do you think I look cool in my new bandana?" She tugged on it, striking an arrogant pose.

"No, sir," Marcie said, not looking up.

Patty scowled again. She fingered the bandana uncertainly. It had looked very cool on the shelf. It had little coiled green vipers on it, which she'd thought was neat; and it wouldn't matter that her fair hair was always in a tangle, if she started wearing a bandana

She tugged it off and dropped it on the ground.

Marcie shot her a look, but didn't say anything. Before they left, though, she stooped and picked up the bandana, and put it in her pocket.

"It wouldn't look any good on you," Patty warned.

"No, sir," Marcie said.

*

They were early to practice, as it turned out. They changed clothes in the clubhouse, then Peppermint Patty waited while Marcie hung her wet trousers out to dry across two benches. A couple of first years gave her a curious look, but they didn't dare ask about the wet clothes.

Patty grinned to herself. Being a regular was so great. It was worth the incredible amount of training she had to do to stay on the team.

Some people barely did any training at all; they hardly deserved to be here, really. Like ...

Patty's eyes narrowed as Sally Brown wandered into the clubhouse, her tennis bag swinging from one elbow. She was singing to herself, out of tune and not quite under her breath. She saw Patty glaring, and gave her a dirty look. Then she jumped and pretended to direct a Dunk Smash at her (as if Patty couldn't have returned it) and turned to Marcie, slightly out of breath.

"Have you seen Rerun anywhere, Marcie-senpai?"

Marcie shook her head.

"Or ... or my Sweet Baboo?" Sally asked.

"If you mean Linus," Marcie said, adjusting her glasses, "I think he's warming up."

Patty dragged Marcie outside.

"The problem with Sally," Patty announced, shading her eyes against the sun, "is that she doesn't know how to have a crush with dignity. That's an important skill."

Marcie shot her a look. It was difficult to be sure with her glasses hiding her expression, but Patty thought she looked amused. "Have you had any practice at acquiring that skill, sir?" she asked.

Patty flushed. "Never you mind," she said. "Oh, look, Chuck!" She bore down on the distraction with relief.

Charlie Brown was sitting against the fence with his knees drawn up, watching a few people warming up.

"Hey, Chuck-san," Patty said, flopping down beside him.

Their vice-captain gave her a mournful look, his gaze drifting back to one particular figure vivaciously hitting balls against the wall. "That little red-headed girl sure is cute," he said quietly.

Patty dropped her head back against the wire-mesh fence.

"You've been playing doubles with her for 1.8 years, now, Charles-san," Marcie said, her voice gentle. "Don't you think you might call her by her name?"

He gave her a blank look. "Oh, I couldn't," he said after a moment.

Patty rolled her eyes. _With dignity_, she mouthed at Marcie.

Marcie coughed. Then she settled on Charlie Brown's other side and pulled her notebook out.

"I've calculated that there's a 92% chance that you will never ask the little red-headed girl out unless you consume more than four standard glasses of alcohol first," she told him. She looked up. "I couldn't advise that, of course, as we're under age, Charles-san."

He blinked at her. "What?"

"TEAM PEP TALK!"

Patty stumbled and jumped to her feet, looking around.

Lucy had come onto the courts. She looked around, her eyes scanning her minions. "ANY REGULAR NOT IN FRONT OF ME IN TWO MINUTES RUNS TWENTY LAPS!"

Rerun and Linus both contrived to already be present and lounging at their ease when the others assembled -- it was probably a Van Pelt skill -- but the others all arrived faintly out of breath.

Lucy looked pleased.

"The Kantou Tournament is in two weeks," she said. "We have a lot to work on, before then." She zeroed in on somebody who seemed to be paying less attention. "_Haven't_ we, Linus."

The tensai gave her a serene smile. "Of course, Lucy-buchou."

Lucy gave a curt nod. "Peppermint Patty needs to work on her Boomerang Snake," she said. "Shroeder needs to increase his accuracy; those powerful shots are all over the place. Charlie Brown needs to not suck as much."

Patty winced for him, but when she glanced over he was frowning distractedly.

"I will personally play a practice match against each of you, to help you prepare," Lucy announced.

Charlie Brown's forehead creased further. "Are you sure that your elbow is ..."

Lucy glared him down. "There's nothing wrong with my elbow! At all! I'm fine! I'm _superman!_"

The team stared at her. Lucy took a deep breath and seemed to realise what she'd said. She flushed.

"Linus," she said, looking around determinedly. "You're not smiling. Smile!"

Linus gave her a sweet smile. After a moment it turned a bit sickly, as she continued to stare at him.

Rerun tugged his cap down over his eyes and slouched his shoulders. Patty thought that he was pretending that he didn't have a brother or sister.

Finally Lucy nodded. "See," she said quietly. "I make the world better. Now!" She turned back to the rest of them. "First practice matches: Sally and Shroeder on Court One; Peppermint Patty and Rerun on Court Two. Go!"

Rerun was smirking beneath his cap as they lined up to play. He won the serve.

Patty narrowed her eyes. It was undignified for such a titchy little boy to be giving her such an insolent look. She was going to have to do something impressive.

She wished she knew what.

Marcie watched the match from the edge of the court for a minute or two, her glasses flashing in the sunshine as she jotted down data. Then she moved to stand beside Lucy, talking to her in a low voice. Patty felt rather irritable. Did Marcie need to be paying attention to other people? Was her match not interesting?

"My shoulder is completely fine!" Patty heard Lucy say. Patty bounced the ball, preparatory to her serve, and glanced over. Lucy was stalking away. Marcie might look back at Patty, now.

Marcie walked up to stand beside Charlie Brown, though. Chuck was close enough that Patty could hear that they were quietly discussing his ridiculous love life again. Marcie, Patty noticed, was idly twining Patty's bandana through her fingers as she talked.

"Are you going to serve at any point, senpai?" Rerun asked, bored.

Patty narrowed her eyes. She served, focusing on the match once more.

Rerun was good, but there'd be an opportunity, there always was, and ...

_There._

Patty twisted her shoulders, angling her body, and drove the racket powerfully through the air. The ball snaked out, whining, out and around the net. The wind of its passage snatched the green-patterned bandana out of Marcie's loose grip ... and then the ball smashed into the court on Rerun's side. Inside the singles court.

Marcie looked at her empty hands, then looked up, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"Marcie!" Patty threw her arms out, the racket clattering off to the side. "I did it!"

Marcie's smile was as bright as her glasses. "Well done, sir!" she said. "You twisted your upper body!"

Marcie wasn't looking at anybody except Peppermint Patty, and she was smiling impossibly widely. Patty whooped and shouted again, jumping up and down on the court.

"Mada mada dane," Rerun muttered. "I'm still winning."

Patty didn't care.


End file.
